Kalka: Armed men wearing masks broke into a house in a residential colony in this Haryana town early Wednesday and looted cash and jewellery worth Rs 18 lakh, police said.

According to the police, the heist occured at the house of Neha in Bharat Nagar colony of Kalka, about 25 km from Chandigarh, around 2.30 am Wednesday when the occupants of the house were sleeping.

"There were around nine masked men carrying pistols and swords, who jumped the boundary wall and broke into the house. For nearly an hour, they ransacked the house and decamped with cash and jewellery worth Rs.18 lakh," inspector Mukesh Kumar, station house officer of Kalka police station, told said.

According to him, there were around five people in the house, including Neha and Sweety. They reported the incident to the local municipal councillor, Kulwinder Singh, who informed the police